Abstract
Cognitive flexibility, especially representational flexibility is a crucial element of human creativity. This paper provides some insight on the cognitive flexibility of the Baka Pygmy children of southeastern Cameroon based on observations of their play and object-making activities. It seems that children until about 2 years of age engage in sensorimotor interactions with the materials around them, and those around 3 years of age begin to make objects. However, while we often observed sensorimotor activities, object-making was observed almost exclusively in solitary play. The development of Baka Pygmy children’s cognitive flexibility appears in their daily creation of objects, substitution of objects, and when using broken parts of entities. Those activities in their play enhance the development of symbolic functions.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the “Grant-in-aid- for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 2010–2014, 1201.” The project leader was Takeru Akazawa, PhD. The title is: Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans: Testing Evolutionary Models of Learning. Potions of this research were presented to RNMH 2012, The Frist International Conference in Tokyo.
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Koyama, T. (2014). Cognitive Flexibility and Making Objects in Baka Pygmy Children. In: Akazawa, T., Ogihara, N., C Tanabe, H., Terashima, H. (eds) Dynamics of Learning in Neanderthals and Modern Humans Volume 2. Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans Series. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54553-8_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54553-8_5
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